Click here for lesson plans adapted to the computer lab. 

Okay, so I’m being subversive with my lesson plans for 2nd and 3rd grade this week.  Instead of using the traditional Mother’s Day books, I’ve decided to read one that questions what we should and can ask of the women in our lives.

I like Shel Silverstein.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’ve had a copy of “Where the Sidewalk Ends” since I was in college.  It was a Christmas present from my parents when I was a student at Eastern Michigan University.  It went with me to Manhattan, moved with me to Queens and then to Brooklyn, to Manhattan again, back to Brooklyn, and finally came with me when I returned to Michigan.  Both the audio cassette and the hard cover are sitting on a shelf in my home office.

When it comes to Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree,” I am not one of the those people who get all dewey-eyed and choked up about how it speaks to me.  Just the opposite.  The book trips my gag reflex.  What’s worse, I think it gives the impression to young boys and girls that a woman’s purpose is defined by how much she gives to men and she is expected to make sacrifices until she has nothing left.  I can’t say that I think the book is misogynistic, because the boy doesn’t come off too well, either.  He’s a flighty, self-absorbed schmo who ends his days like a lump on a stump.  The only reason to put this book in a children’s library is because it’s got some pictures in it.  However, I bet you’ll be hard pressed to find a children’s section that doesn’t house at least one copy.

This week, I’m doing a conventional Venn diagram to compare and contrast “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein with “The Taking Tree,” by Shrill Travesty.  I’m also introducing the concepts of “classic” literature and “parody.” (Including the meanings of the words “shrill” and “travesty.”)

Materials: